Chicago playwright Tanya Saracho lands 'Girls' writing gig

Years ago, when I first interviewed Chicago playwright Tanya Saracho, she told me about visiting her senora here in town whenever she was in need of counsel. It took me a few minutes before I realized she was talking about a specific type of Latina fortuneteller.

So I had to laugh when I caught up with last week's episode of "Looking," the new HBO series about gay friends in San Francisco bumbling their way through relationships and professional disappointments. Saracho is a writer on the show. And wouldn't you know it, a scene in Sunday's episode featured a visit to a senora by Patrick (a charmingly skittish Jonathan Groff) and his new love interest Richie (Raul Castillo).

Born in Mexico and raised along the Texas border, Saracho has spent the better part of her adult life in Chicago. Her writing, which was a staple of the off-Loop scene before commissions from Steppenwolf and the Goodman, lands in that sweet spot between comedy and drama, and she has an eye for pop cultural details and the weird little nuances that define female friendships. It was only a matter of time before she found her way to Hollywood.

Saracho co-wrote the upcoming episode, in which Patrick introduces the sexy, easy-going (if not professionally impressive) Richie to his friends. The episode is directed by another Chicagoan, "Drinking Buddies" filmmaker Joe Swanberg. "That was serendipitous, the Chicago thing," Saracho said.

Another coincidence: Castillo and Saracho are old friends. None of the show's producers knew this ahead of time. "Raul Castillo was my first high school boyfriend," Saracho said. "We went to high school and college together (at Boston University). He's like a sibling. I've known him 22 years and almost every male character that I write is a version of Raul.

"When we went to the first table read at HBO, we got breakfast before and then walked in together, and it was really emotional — these two kids from the border were now doing a show for HBO."

Saracho temporarily moved to LA for her first TV job just 18 months ago, working for Marc Cherry on Lifetime's "Devious Maids." The "Looking" gig came almost immediately afterwards and kept her on the West Coast through November. Then it was home to her apartment in Chicago for what she thought would be an extended stay. There were plays that needed to be written; mental batteries that needed to be recharged.

"People in LA think I'm insane to go back to Chicago during the winter. It's because I love my apartment and fleece leggings and my friends.

"I did get a parasite so I was sick half the time, and the holidays were sad because I had to spend them here alone because of family stuff, but it was great to be back. Especially when your friends are theater artists and they have the day free. People can go to brunch with you. On a Wednesday."

That relaxed pace came to a halt in January when her agent rang: Lena Dunham and "Girls" show-runner Jenni Konner wanted Saracho to write for the show's fourth season — and could she be in LA in a matter of days?

"Up to that point I was feeling guilty about being lazy. I just wanted to sit and watch 'Sherlock,' all three seasons in one day. And I did! And now I understand — the universe understood I was going to get this job and I needed to rest because for 22 months I had been going straight through."

She got the call for "Girls" three weeks ago, and we squeezed in a conversation that evening as she was packing. "Any time you have to move in two days it's crazy. It's like, 'Who am I going to get to take care of my cat?"

In less than two years Saracho has landed work on three television series, each more high profile than the next (particularly "Girls," which gets her in the room with executive producer Judd Apatow). That's a notably swift trajectory. And you can't discount the power of seeing a Latina moving up through the ranks, especially on a show that has been criticized for being too homogenous.

Don't think others aren't noticing. "Are you following new Girls writers?" Konner tweeted earlier this week, which prompted someone to reply: "Wow, a Mexican girl writes Girls. One reason more for to love it

"I've watched every episode ever," Saracho said. "I've been a fangirl so this is really surreal. I think the writing is really sharp. I get into a lot of fights when I talk about it in terms of, does every show have to represent every point of view? Shouldn't you be able to tell your stories from your point of view?

"We're dealing with that with 'Looking' where some queers are like, 'These guys are so boring! They don't represent me!' But no show can represent everything, so is it OK for us, in 'Looking,' to write about these three men and their world? Is OK for Lena to write about her three girlfriends and their world? I feel like the answer has to be yes. And if you don't like it, you don't have to watch it. But the writing is good."

It's not usual to see Chicago playwrights working at higher levels in Hollywood, including "Mad Men's" Rick Cleveland, James Bond screenwriter John Logan and "Looking" colleague Jill Soloway (who left the show midway through to work on her own series for Amazon called "Transparent" — the pilot of which is free and worth checking out). But I can't think of a Chicago playwright in recent memory who has had this much success this fast.

And the opportunities just keep coming. Shortly after "Looking" wrapped, HBO asked Saracho to pitch a series of her own. And they liked what they heard; Saracho is now developing a TV series for the cable network based on her play "Mala Hierba" (which will have its premiere off-Broadway this summer).

"I'm developing the show with Mike White 's company," she said. (White created and co-starred in HBO's critically acclaimed "Enlightened"). "They made me memorize and rehearse my pitch. It was so nerve-wracking! I thought I'd just walk in and shoot the (expletive), but no, there's a science to this.

"It's the story of a trophy wife who is trapped in a loveless, really scary marriage to a capo — a drug dealer — and she has a female lover in this border town. So it's the complications (in) that triangle. And hopefully it'll be funny somehow because they bought a half-hour comedy.

"The way you catch their attention (at the network level) is to say 'It's this meets that," which I always rolled my eyes at — but you have to do that. So it's a cross between 'Weeds' and 'Breaking Bad' if it had more women; 'The Bridge' if it was funnier and all tied together with a Pedro Almodovar feeling."

Chances are "Mala" (as she is currently calling it) won't ever make it to air. "Here are the steps: I write them an outline; they give me tons of notes. I write another outline; they give me more notes. And when they think it's ready they say, go ahead and write the pilot. And then more notes back, more notes back. And then it goes through their system, and hopefully they decide to shoot a pilot, which is very rare. And then they give you notes on the pilot. And then they decide if they want to commit to a full season. Or not. So I'm being realistic."

So far, the "Girls" job has been instructional. Working for Dunham and Konner has been "really amazing," she said by email this week. "Just seeing how they run the room. They're so relaxed and loving and nurturing and respectful. And both so funny. It's so easy in there. I feel nothing but support from those two. And it has been very encouraging for me to see two women run a room."

As for "Looking," HBO has made no announcement about the show's future. If it gets a second season, Saracho says they'll go back to work on that in April or May.

Let's hope HBO pulls the trigger. As last week's episode captured so perceptively, the show is at once universal (nosing around the medicine cabinet of a lover the first time you spend the night) and specific to gay relationships (addressing the stigma some people feel when it comes to a certain sexual position).

"My boss (executive producer) Andrew Haigh has never done television or a big-budget film," Saracho said. "He's done small indies. And that's the essence and the style and the aesthetic of the show. It should feel like those indies where the comedy is underplayed, but the drama is underplayed too. And there's no score. It should be a little voyeuristic. Like a slice-of-life."

The episode of "Looking" co-written by Tanya Saracho and JC Lee (titled "Looking in the Mirror") airs 9:30 p.m. Sunday on HBO. Go to hbo.com/looking.

'Black Sheep' at Columbia

The Black Film Society at Columbia College is pushing the school to change its approach to ensure that students of color are getting "an educational experience equal to that of the white students in Columbia's film program," according to the society's president Raina McKinley, who along with her classmates made the documentary "Black Sheep," which delves into some of the issues at hand.

"There was a dark-skinned student in a lighting class who was chosen to be used as an example of how to light human subjects," McKinley told me. "She was told she was too dark to be properly lit and was asked to step aside while a lighter-skinned student was used as the example. The darker-skinned student never returned to that class." McKinley also cites a student who "wanted to make a film with all black characters who was told not to 'ghettoize her work' and an alum that was told she casted too many black actors and instead should 'be more diverse' in her approach to film. These are just a few of the many examples of the trials black students face." Among the society's suggestions: "More exposure to quality black filmmakers inside and outside the the classroom and a curriculum that reflects the entire student body." The documentary screens 6 and 7 p.m. Wednesday at Columbia. Go to columbiablackfilmsociety.tumblr.com.

Workers' history

Long before social media gave voice to the disenfranchised, the Workers Film and Photo League set out in the 1930s to create short films that would serve as an alternative to newsreels. Block Cinema at Northwestern screens six of these shorts, including "Detroit Workers News Special 1932: Ford Massacre," capturing a demonstration of unemployed workers that saw four of its participants shot and killed by police and security personnel employed by Ford Motor Company. 2 p.m. Saturday. Go to blockmuseum.northwestern.edu.